


Opposites Attract

by SlitchTheNarcissist



Category: Skyrim
Genre: Abuse, And an alcoholic, Betrayal, Emotional Hurt, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluffy, Fluffy for Days, Gentle Kissing, Jealousy, M/M, Marriage, Multi, Scouts is a dick, Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Harm, Slow Build, cullen is too damn nice, expect kittens, jealosy sex, just expect marriage and babies, or baby lizzards idk
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-19
Updated: 2018-10-06
Packaged: 2019-02-04 06:36:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12765219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SlitchTheNarcissist/pseuds/SlitchTheNarcissist
Summary: [A Scouts-Many-Marshes fanfiction]Cullen, a Khajiit male known for his trading skills and reputation he'd built up with his close friend, Kouske. The two had left Elsweyr to pursue their trading dreams and came to the cold and harsh world of Skyrim. Their reputation grew, becoming one of the best traders in the land. After a trading gone wrong in Falkreath, they loose their business and are forced to start a new life in the worst part of Skyrim, a cold and snowy place known as Windhelm.As Cullen struggles to pay off a debt he didn't cause, a certain Argonian male, soon to be known as Scouts-Many-Marshes comes in and helps out the struggling Khajiit, only for the friendship they created to grow even further...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Some features in my story may not match what's actually in Skyrim, but for the story I have to bend things a little

        "You _said_ that if we brought you the Mammoth Tusks and Sabre Cat teeth, you would give us the books of the Kavatch Attack in Tamriel and the stories of Black Marsh and Morrowind!" Cullen shouted to the Nord man known as Edis, who had his arms crossed over his Stormcloack armor with a smirk.   
       
    "Oh my _deepest_ apologies," Edis said. "I must've forgotten them. Well that's a shame, but we're glad to bring them here again... for more supplies." He said.  
  
        Cullen glared with anger, hatred in his golden feline eyes. "No! You did this last time! We're not letting you get away with more of our supplies by some cheap shakedown!" Cullen said with hate, his Khajiit accent thick and strong as he spoke.   
  
        "Well, if you wont cooperate, we'll have to take drastic measurements." Edis said.   
  
        "You don't scare me." Cullen said sternly. His war paint which covered the top right side of his face from his ears to his cheekbones creased as he glared at the Nord.  
  
        Edis let out a laughter. "You hear that boys? He's not scared of me!" Edis continued laughing. One of the men with him smirked and reached into their small wagon for weapons. Edis turned to Cullen and his partner, Kouske, with a smirk. "Well you should be." Edis said, pulling his fist back and hitting Cullen's head hard.   
  
        Everything went black..  
  
-        -        -        -        -          
  
               It took a few hours before Cullen actually woke up, and when he did, he was on wooden floors that left splinters in his skin, covered by his dark black fur. When his golden eyes opened, he saw things sideways.  
  
         It took him a moment to realize he was bound and left on the floor. The other thing that took him a second was to realize that the room he was in was rocking.  
  
         _'Am I on a ship?'_  Cullen thought to himself as he tried to make himself stand up. His efforts were wasted as he tumbled back down to the ground in pain.  
  
        A deep breath was all it took for him to realize the pain came from his torso. He looked down to his chest as best as he could despite his hands being tied together and saw the dark red stain of blood on his robes. "Crap." Cullen mumbled as he tried to stand up again. He managed to, but curled up into himself entirely. He limped from the floor he laid on to try getting to the top deck to see where he was.  
  
        He barely managed to reach the stairs, before the sound of people shouting in panic and hard footsteps were heard. Cullen froze where he stood and listened.  
  
        "God damn you Khajiit! I'll have you rot in prison for this!" An unfamiliar voice shouted before the ship took a sharp turn down. Water flooded from the staircase and into Cullen's room for a brief moment. He didn't know what to do. He settled on staying below, for his own damn safety.  
  
        He remained down below the deck and started to look around for anything to get him cut from the binds. He soon found a wooden pillar, with splinters of wood sticking out. He tried not to think about what would happen if he were to rest his arm on that and got to cutting off the binds with the splinters.  
  
        It took a while, but he finally managed to get them off and rubbed his wrists. Then he started looking around for any visible sign of his things he'd brought in a satchel. He had highly doubted anything was here, but he saw his dagger. It was made of silver and passed down through generations of Cullen's family.   
  
        He set the dagger on his belt that held his shirt down and continued to look around, before the sound of the door slamming open caused Cullen to jump and look at who had entered.  
  
        "Kouske! Mara's mercy... what happened to your arm? Are yo-!"  
  
        "Not now!" Kouske shouted and grabbed Cullen's arm with his non-damaged one. "We gotta go!" he shouted and dragged Cullen up the stairs and towards the edge of the ship. The ship was visibly starting to sink, Cullen noticed that a lot of their sails were either torn off or burning. The fire had spread pretty badly and was taking over almost the whole ship. "Get ready to jump!"  
  
        "Wait what?!" Cullen shouted, but before he could say or do anything else, Kouske grabbed his arm and pulled him off the ship and down into the water. Now this would've been a 'great' escape, if not for the fact that Cullen could not swim to save his life.  
  
        Kouske seemed to notice this, and grabbed Cullen's arm and started dragging him towards the shore. About a 30 minute walk would lead them to the docks of Windhelm.   
  
        They got to shore, thankfully and collapsed on the cold snow, panting heavily for air and looking around. A loud explosion was heard as they watched the ship completely destroy itself and sinking. The two sat quietly in shock, before forcing themselves to stand up and get away from the ship. Kouske was lagging behind and not breathing right.  
  
        Cullen grabbed both of Kouske's shoulders and kept hauling him along the snow to an opening by the docks. A few ships and a boat were placed in the slots of the docks, a few Nords and Dark Elves were carrying boxes back and forth. "Come on Kouske, we're almost there..." Cullen encouraged and kept hauling him over.  
  
        "Can't... keep... going..." Kouske said before completely collapsing, just barely getting caught by Cullen. He managed to get to the steps of the docks and called out for help.  
  
        "Hey! Anybody! We... We need help!" Cullen shouted and kept hauling an unconscious Kouske up the stairs and over to the few people there. A Dark Elf women hurried over and grabbed Kouske and helped move him to a room where he could be cared for.   
  
        Just as Cullen was about to go into the a room, a Nord male walked up to him and grabbed his arm. "Hold on, not you. We have a few questions to ask." He said with a glare. Cullen looked to the room Kouske had gone into before looking at the man and nodding his head slowly.   
  
        "Al... alright." Cullen said and walked away with the man.  
  
        Before Cullen walked with the man, he caught glimpse of an Argonian male, simply staring as Cullen disappeared from his line of sight...


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback and criticism appreciated!

        While Cullen sat patiently in a room with the Nord man, known as Torbjorn Shatter-Shield,  who began to inform Cullen that "non Nords" as he put it, were **not** welcome in Windhelm OR Skyrim. Tobjorn also voiced that he did not appreciate Cullen bringing himself and Kouske to the docks and distracting his workers from their job.         

        "Look Shatter-Shield, I don't want to be here anymore then you do, but my friend needs help. We just escaped a burning ship with barely our lives, all our stock and coin are gone." Cullen argued and stood up with a sigh. "I'll pay you back in 20 gold coins for distracting your workers by Fredas(Friday)." Cullen promised.

        Before Tobjorn could say anything, the Dark Elf lady who escorted Kouske to the building came out and walked over. She introduced herself as Luaffyn to Cullen, and said that she needed to discuss important news that had come up when taking care of Kosuke. She apologized to Cullen before going to a back room with Torbjorn.

        Some time passed before Tobjorn came back with an angry look, but some sinister look in his eyes when he looked at Cullen. "So. Cullen, is it?" he smirked. Cullen nodded his head in response. He didn't like the way that Tobjorn was looking at him and began to tense up, anticipating what was coming next. "As it would seem, your friend, Kouske, sunk a ship of Windhelm's armor and weapon supply."        

        Cullen's eyes widened as he stared in disbelief. "What?! No! He wouldn't." Cullen growled and stood up, his feline fangs were exposed as he bared them in anger. "You Nords have done a lot of shit in your life, but blaming a visitor from a completely different place of sinking a ship singlehanded is just a disgrace to your people." Cullen snapped.

        "Well since you seem to think that way, how about I give you proof?" Torbjorn smirked, making Cullen slightly shrink back from his aggression and ponder on the words he had used. 

        "Please, humor me." Cullen said, keeping his composure strong as he stared Torbjorn in the eyes. 'Bastard.' Cullen thought to himself with a glare as Torbjorn walked out of the room and outside. Cullen watched as he waved his hand over to someone, signaling them over. The person who entered was shivering, his hair looked almost signed at the tips. His eyes were full of fear, but immediately turned to a glare the second he saw Cullen.

        "YOU! You're that Khajiit bastard that escaped the ship! Where the hell is the other one?! The one who set our goddamned sails on fire!" The Nord shouted with anger. 

        Cullen could say nothing, but simply lower his head in shame with a frown. Kouske is his best friend, he couldn't believe the fact that he'd do that. Cullen looked up at the Nord man. "I...I'm sorry... I'm so sorry. I'll do anything to help the situation..."

        "Ha! You think a simple 'sorry' is going to make up for the supplies your friend has cost us?! I demand that you send him to prison for the rest of his miserable life!"

        "Now now general, like you said a single word isn't going to bring back all that we've lost. But I know what will." Torbjorn said with a smirk.

        "What do you mean?" The general questioned.

        "Well, what I meant to say was I know _who_ will get back what we've lost." Tobjorn said with a smirk and turned his gaze to Cullen. "Since your friend was the one who cost us the cargo, and he's not in a condition to work. You, Cullen, will be responsible for paying off his debt. You will receive 5 coin a day. For each day you mess something up, or you don't work, you are another 100 gold in debt." He smirked. "The amount you owe is 25000."

        "What?!" Cullen shouted and stood up "I'll have to work the rest of my life to pay that off!" He said and clenched his fists. "No! I refuse! I will not be enslaved by your kind for some worthless cargo to fight a war that doesn't need to be fought!" Cullen said.

        "Well if that's the way you think, we could always execute you." Tobjorn said with a smirk. Cullen glared and looked down, shaking with anger. "Well~? what's it going to be?"

        Cullen took a deep breath and kept his gaze down. "F-Fine. I'll pay off the debt." He said.

        "Excellent." Tobjorn said with a smirk. "Now, head out to the docks. Our friend Neetrenaza will be the one to show you around." he said and smirked seeing how angry Cullen looked.  
  
                                 _And so it began._


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you like it!

When Cullen walked out to the docks, he saw the same Argonian as earlier. He only gave Cullen a glance before resuming work. Cullen watched as Tobjorn walked past Cullen and called out a different Argonians name. "Neetrenaza! Come here, you have a new worker!" Tobjorn said with an evil smirk towards Cullen, who glared and hissed at him silently and looked ahead at the Argonian who approached.

"Him?" Neetrenaza spoke with noticeable disinterest.

"Yes. And he has quite the debt to pay off." Tobjorn answered with a smirk. "I want you to get him set up for work immediately." he said and turned to Cullen. "Enjoy your time here, Cullen." Tobjorn said before walking away from the docks and through a large gate.

Cullen glared at him as he walked away and hissed more at him before he walked away. "Hey knock it off." Neetrenaza said. "No point in trying to get by that old asshole." Neetrenaza said with a sigh. "So, Cullen is it?" Neetrenaza asked, Cullen nodded in response. "He mentioned a debt. How much are you in for?"

"25000..." Cullen said upset and clenched his fists tightly out of anger. "All for some dumb escape attempt by my 'friend'." Cullen said with visible anger and sighed but shook his head. "I don't wana talk about this anymore. What do I have to do?"

"We work unloading cargo that the Nords here are damned too lazy to do themselves." Neetrenaza said. "And make sure everything is in place. You can work early mornings to the evening. Longer shifts mean just slightly more money. Don't expect charity from me or Shaveev, but try rooting Scouts-Many-Marshes into it and I might just hang you myself." He said harshly.

Cullen rolled his eyes and shook his head. 'Great. Now I have to work with people who don't even like me.' Cullen thought to himself with a sigh.

"One more thing, don't you even think about stealing from us. I know your kind." Neetrenaza said. "We barely get by on our owns with this shit they call payment." he snapped. Cullen glared darkly, his posture standing upright. 

"Excuse me?" he glared, teeth bared and claws ready to be brought out. "Did you say you know my 'kind'?" Cullen glared.

"And so what if I did?" he sneered and stepped closer to Cullen. "It's no surprise you're working because of debt." Neetrenaza said. Cullen got close to the Argonian, but was stopped suddenly when scaly arms pushed between the two and against them, separating the two. 

Between them was another Argonian, he was tall with the most beautiful colored skin for an Argonian. "Both of you, knock it off. We don't need you getting in more trouble then you're already in." he spoke with a soft and soothing voice that puzzled Cullen.

"This cat means nothing to me, he should mean nothing to you Scouts." Neetrenaza said. "We're going to get less pay now because of this thief working." 

"Enough!" Scouts shouted, catching Neetrenaza by surprise. "There will be no racism while we work here, otherwise we're no better then the Nords themselves." He said. 

Neetrenaza was about to say something, but growled and gave up. "Fine. You show him what to do then." he said and glared at Cullen before walking away. The Argonian "Scouts" let out a soft sigh before turning to Cullen and frowned. 

"I'm sorry about Neetrenaza, he means well in the end, really." Scouts said. 

"It's fine." Cullen said, sighing as a snarl came on his face and his ears flattened. "What did Neetrenaza mean when he said you guys get poor payment? Is someone giving you guys trouble?" Cullen asked. 

"Tobjorn Shatter-Shield himself." He sighed sadly. "I wish someone would beat the coin out of his fat fists. He clings to every Septim. He says an Argonian's labor is only worth a tenth of a 'proper Nord worker.' My people are not slaves!"

Cullen was silent for a moment as he pondered. "What if I were to talk to him?" 

Scouts chuckled halfheartedly. "You can try, but we've gotten nowhere talking to him ourselves." he said and set a hand on Cullen's shoulder. "I don't want you getting in trouble however, I'd feel responsible if he worsened your debt because of me." Scouts said with a frown before taking Cullen over to one of the ships that had just arrived to start training.


End file.
